God is Opening Doors with the Hunikuim People
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together since 1971. In addition to pastoring First Baptist of Cruzeiro do Sul, Mike builds his own boats and frequently travels up and down rivers to share the Gospel with those who have never heard.
February 9, 2018
Dear Brethren,
Pastor Ezi and Zico (our missions coordinator) went with me to the upper Juruá River a couple of weeks ago. We spent 8 days visiting seven works and as many of our missionaries. We traveled over 600 miles on two rivers. The names of the places and people probably won’t mean anything to you, so I will skip right to the highlights. All of our missionaries reported and showed us first hand some good solid growth at each congregation.
At Foz do Breu (Mouth of the Breu River) on the Peruvian border we were pleased to find out that a few of the families who had left the village have now come back. Attendance has come back up. Our missionary there, José Costa, has gotten the congregation into a steady rhythm of mission trips. They have 3 teams that alternate visits to 3 villages downstream from them. Just last month 4 more were saved at Pedra Pintada. We had great services with good crowds. On Sunday morning I baptized 8.
On our visit to Tipisca, Peru we got to see José Maia’s excitement at making the first breakthroughs. Besides the Peruvians in the town there are 5 other ethnic groups and languages. Everyone is dirt poor. All there is to do is drink, drugs and prostitution. The children in the town have been the open door to the gospel. José and Silvânia have been working with about 40 children every day, sometimes all day and into the night. It was fun to watch Silvânia playing soccer with the kids at the end of the day behind the church building. Now some adults are coming around. Some of the kids are already saved and 2 adults, also.
As I have reported before the doors have finally opened up for us to reach the Hunikuim people on the Breu River. This tribe is called Kaxinauá (bat people) by most folks. They, however, call themselves Hunikuim which means the “original People” Their language is called Hanchakuim or language of THE people. We visited the São José village over 50Km up river from the Juruá, inland and east. This section had to be navigated by canoe.
The visit there was just crazy from start to finish. We were informed ahead of time to not take anything out of the canoe, because the Indians wanted to carry everything for us. The whole village was gathered at the river. They were dancing and shouting to welcome us. The men had their headdresses and paint on. The women were painted and dressed in long colorful skirts and blouses. The women had long decorated paddles that they were smacking together, too. I was the first one to set foot on land. When I reached the top of the bank 2 of the girls grabbed each of my hands while wielding those paddles and led me to their great house. I had no idea what was going on or what might happen. The village all came into the great house to welcome us and explain the local “telephone” system. They have these horns made of bamboo, armadillo tails and bees wax. They have different calls for meal time and meeting time. The Hunikuim love to eat and meet. Seems they are born “almost Baptists”!
The food, by the way, was pretty good. The hunting party came in with some monkeys, so that is what we had for the first dinner. I got a piece of neck, which was tough, but tasty. Most Baptist preachers should be able to see the hidden significance of that.
At the first service, more surprises. During the song service, in their language and to their kind of music, a group of the women and girls came into the great house and began to dance. They started out a kind of line dance, which morphed into a circle after several minutes. Then suddenly one of them reached out and pulled me into the circle. This may be a step too far, but try to imagine me trying to follow their steps and swinging arms while going around in circles. Well with that last sentence I probably lost all of my support! The headline, “missionary caught on camera dancing with a bunch of women, none of whom are his wife.” Well when the song mercifully ended, most of the congregation had been dragged into the circle.
After that I preached about the lost sheep in Luke 15. The chief’s brother interpreted for me. A few of those present had already been saved. Cosma and her brother Bibiano had been won through José Maia’s ministry. The chief and his brother had also been saved later. There were 6 other professions of faith. After the next service, the following morning, I baptized 8 of them.
There are 5 villages of Hunikuim on the Breu River. The head chief over all of them is called Zeca. He is not saved, but came around to tell me that the whole tribe has approved our presence in their villages to preach the gospel. What a turnaround. Just a few short years ago a judge ordered us out. Now the people have invited us back in. Their rule supersedes Brazilian court rulings. The same is happening in other tribes all around us and doors continue to open. Invitations are coming in from all around. This is exciting stuff. Please pray for us as we try to keep pushing the gospel to the most remote places on earth.
They have invited me to come back in March when they plan to gather the other villages for a 3 day meeting. Now here is where you come in with more than your prayers. This last trip cost me over $600.00 just in gasoline. I had to buy an extra 4 gallons of fuel at one of the villages. That was at $10.00 per gallon. Please keep me supplied with fuel and equipment. As long as my health permits I want to continue to reach as many people as possible, no matter how far or difficult it may be.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
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Snapshots from works along the Juruá River
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together since 1971. In addition to pastoring First Baptist of Cruzeiro do Sul, Mike builds his own boats and frequently travels up and down rivers to share the Gospel with those who have never heard.
April 10, 2017
Dear Brethren,
March Madness? I missed most of it since I was up river on a long mission trip. You won’t hold that against me, will you?
The river is very high right now, so travel is a bit easier. My bigger boat has a top and windshield, which make things much better, too. Three of our men went with me. Zico (our missions director), Rondisson (one of our chapel pastors) and Sisnando, a young man who just got to go on his very first mission trip. Our visits were to Porto Walter, Triunfo, Foz do Breu, Thaumaturgo and Tipisca in Peru. All of these locations are on the Juruá River. We travelled 625 miles. We used 95 gallons of gasoline at $6.70 per gallon. The trip cost just under $640.00. Gasoline here in town is a little cheaper, but I can now gas up at 2 of the towns upstream. That makes it possible to travel lighter, but pushes the cost up. The weather was perfect. We didn’t have any muddy river banks. There weren’t too many bloodsucking insects. Best of all though is that all the works are doing well. We had one profession of faith. I also baptized 6 at Foz do Breu on the border.
Tipisca is still a tough place, but showing signs of getting better. One of Damiana’s brothers, Bibiano and his wife Eva have been saved and are being trained by our missionary José Maia and his wife, Silvânia. Bibiano’s family is from the Kaxinauá tribe (pronounced kah-shee-now-ah). This name was given to them many years ago by the white folks. It means “bat people”. Nobody remembers why. The real name amongst the tribe is Hunikuim (pronounced hu-nee-ku-een) which means “the true people”. They see themselves as the “real” humans and then there are all the others. They see themselves as the “Jews” and all the rest of us are the “Gentiles”. Anyway, there have been 15 of the “real people” saved over the last few months. We now have a new missionary from their own people, who we brought from the Purús region to work with them. We now have regular preaching points at 3 of the 5 villages on the Breu River. The other 2 villages are now open and inviting Fredi and José Maia to preach to them, too. Fredi has worked very hard to win his own people and the results are coming in. He has also worked with the other tribes in and around Tipisca to get the gospel to them. As I walk around the small town of Tipisca I hear a little Spanish, a smattering of Portuguese, but mostly 5 other Indian languages. The town has grown to about a thousand people. However, the cultural, moral and linguistic jumble is a huge barrier to the gospel.
The work here in Cruzeiro do Sul is thriving. The construction of our rebuild and expansion is progressing slowly. The finish work on the annex is moving along in its final stages. The building continues to fill up every week. Our children’s services, both morning and evening have grown. Since we have added extra rooms in the annex, this has given more space in the main building for adults and youth. It will soon be overflowing again, by God’s grace. We will need the new balconies that are in the project very soon. The economic crisis in Brazil has really held us back, but God will supply. Several more have been saved. Others have come back to church. We even have had several new members by letter, which is rather unusual here.
My son-in-law, Pastor Dauro, has malaria again and some of my other pastors have been off on other projects. That means that I have been doing much of the preaching and teaching. I work on the buildings by day and teach at night. Long hours, but fun. My health has been great and have been feeling fine, so all is well here in our tropical paradise. Keep praying, though. Need it always.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
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